Postgraduate Publishing studies at Edinburgh Napier University. INDUSTRY APPROVED Publishing courses (accredited by the Professional Publishers Association and Creative Skillset). MSc Publishing was the first Publishing programme in the UK to be approved by the Professional Publishers Association. It is one of only two UK courses to be accredited by Creative Skillset. MSc Magazine Publishing is the only course of its kind in Scotland.

Advice on your new publishing world!

I applied for MSc Publishing at Edinburgh Napier University pretty late on last year. I had graduated with an Honours in English Literature and was a bit stuck on what to do. This course was suggested to me by a careers advisor. I applied after doing a bit of my own research, and was accepted to the course to start in September 2016. Initially, it was daunting, as any would any masters course would be, and in the run up to my start date I began looking online for some more information about what I would be doing.

It’s hard to go through blog posts and material that may not be relevant by the time you start, so here’s a list of what I believe to be important and that won’t change in the near future. Hopefully this will give you a bit of help if you are about to embark on what’s, no doubt, going to be one of the quickest years of your life.

Take notes. There’s a significant amount of information to be absorbed and I took a lot of notes. I managed to get myself into some sort of order, with thanks to my dad who bestowed upon me a diary that he wasn’t really using (in which I found my birthday wrongly recorded. Cheers, Dad!). I gave this diary a new quality of life and used it constantly, making sure I wrote down all deadlines and dates. Coming to the end of the first trimester I was so glad I had dedicated a bit of time to getting myself sorted, as it gets hectic. A diary is also great for looking back on if reflective essays are required of you, and it’s nice that past you is taking care of present you in these moments.

Attend events. Go to everything you can. It’s all experience and a great way to meet people, get to know classmates, and begin to understand this massive industry that you’re getting into. I took up work experience in the Scottish Poetry Library, whose events I recommend greatly because they allow for some mingling (wine) before and after the event. It’s a great way to meet people as well as hear some poems in a really beautiful part of Edinburgh. Go to book launches: Waterstones, Blackwell’s, The Edinburgh Bookshop. Look for free events on Facebook and Twitter (if you haven’t already – get a Twitter account!). Go to ALL the SYP events and meet publishing people outside of the course. There are SYP conferences, advice seminars, talks, mixers, socials, throughout the year. They are worth going to. Familiarise yourself with the people speaking at these things, you’ll see them around more than once. Finally, go to London Book Fair. You’ll be told about this on your very first day and it’s an important experience. Research this.

More than anything, enjoy it! A year is not a long stretch. The course requires a lot of work, which is difficult at times, but worth it when you get to where I am now. The industry can be intimidating and making sense of it in your own way takes time, but hopefully you’ll enjoy this year as much as I have.